


They Laugh with Their Tails

by conceptstage



Series: Single Chapter Critical Role [140]
Category: Critical Role (Web Series)
Genre: F/F, Pining
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2020-08-07
Updated: 2020-08-07
Packaged: 2021-03-05 19:14:52
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings
Chapters: 1
Words: 1,335
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/25770454
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/conceptstage/pseuds/conceptstage
Summary: Jester's tail doesn't really have a mind of it's own but, when it does something embarrassing, she's okay with the misconception.
Relationships: Jester Lavorre/Beauregard Lionett
Series: Single Chapter Critical Role [140]
Series URL: https://archiveofourown.org/series/1436668
Comments: 4
Kudos: 228





	They Laugh with Their Tails

The first time Jester noticed it, it was as they disembarked from The Balleater in Nicodranus.

“Are we off to the Chateau?” Fjord asked, crossing his arms and shifting from foot to foot. “I would kill for a bath.”

Caduceus hummed thoughtfully. “I wanted to visit the curio shop again,” he said, gently running his fingertips over the fur on his jaw. “But perhaps that can wait, we are not leaving until this evening.”

Beau cleared her throat. “Nah, I’ll go with you. We’ll catch up with you guys at Marion’s.” She started to move forward but paused. “Oh!” she said in surprise, looking down at her wrist, then she laughed a little. “Hey, Jes, can you let me go?”

“Hmm?” Jester asked, looking up at Beau. She’d been lost in thought, only half listening to the conversation. “What?”

Beau smiled softly and Jester couldn’t help but smile back. Beau slid one hand into her pocket and gestured with her other one. “Can you let me go?”

Jester looked down at the hand that Beau was holding out to her and felt her face flush purple. “Oh!” Her tail had wrapped around Beau’s wrist without her knowing and now it was holding her tight as she had started to leave. Jester unwrapped it and then grabbed it in her hands, holding it close to her body. “Sorry! I don’t- Why would it do that?”

Beau chuckled. “It’s fine, Jes. I’ll see you back at the Chateau later, yeah?”

Jester licked her lips and nodded, twisting her hands around her tail. “Yeah, yeah, later.” She turned her smile to Caduceus as well. “Later, Caduceus.” But Caduceus was giving her a knowing look that made worry gather painfully in her belly and she looked pointedly away, smiling at Veth. “Come on, Veth! Let’s get massages at the Chateau.”

It happened again two days later when they were camping in the dome.

She woke up a little bit from Caleb’s voice nearby. “Beau… Beauregard,” he whispered.

“Huh?” Beau groaned, a little too loud, and it made Jester smile a little bit.

“It is time for your watch.”

Beau sighed and Jester started to fall back asleep but then there was a slight tug on her tail. “Ah, shit. Hold on, Jester’s tail got me again.” Jester tensed but kept her eyes closed as she felt Beau start to carefully unwrap her tail from around her waist. After she was free, Jester felt Beau gently rub the point of the tail before sitting it down. “Hope I didn’t wake her up. Here, man, take my spot.”

“I do not think so. If Jester thinks I am you I will wake up with her tail wrapped around me too.”

Beau snorted as she stood. “Dude, don’t flatter yourself. As if anyone could mistake you for me.” But she moved away and Jester felt Caleb take the space she had vacated. Jester wrapped her tail around her own leg and tried to force herself to fall back asleep but there was too much on her mind.

It kept happening.

They arrived at the Xorhaus, a little worse for wear but all alive. Jester groaned, her magic depleted, her muscles screaming, and leaned heavily against Yasha for support. Yasha was having trouble standing for herself but she held up carefully. 

“I will get some food started,” Caduceus said, though he was so tired that he stumbled a bit as he moved towards the kitchen.

Fjord rushed to help him, walking with him out of the room. Jester groaned and laid herself over Beau’s back instead. “Beau…” she groaned.

Beau laughed and started walking her towards the dining room. “Come on, let’s go sit down.” 

Jester sat down at the dining table first and Beau took the seat on the bench right next to her. Jester groaned and laid her head down on the table. Beau chuckled softly and gently picked up Jester’s tail, which instinctively wrapped around her wrist with the point resting against Beau’s fingers. She rubbed it gently and Jester felt all the tension in her shoulders and back leave her body like a heavy sigh. She must have fallen asleep at some point but she woke with a start when a plate clattered in front of her. She blinked tiredly at it as she opened her eyes and then glanced at some movement in her peripherals without raising her head. 

Beau was still holding her tail in one hand, gently rubbing it between the pads of her thumb and forefinger, and with her other hand she was struggling to cut the food on the plate in front of her. Fjord snorted in amusement and reached out with his fork to hold it still for her.

“You could just wake her up and ask for your hand back,” Fjord teased.

Beau frowned but let him stabilize her food enough for her to cut it into bite sized pieces. “I don’t mind,” she mumbled. “If it helps Jes relax, I don’t mind it.” She moved like she was about to turn and Jester snapped her eyes closed though she wasn’t entirely sure why. 

“Does your tail ever do stuff without you knowing?”

Her mother hummed as she slowly brushed through Jester’s hair. “Oh, yes, certainly. Tails are like our other limbs, sometimes we can control them, sometimes they move on instinct.”

Jester chewed nervously on her lip. “Does your tail ever just, like… wrap around a person all the time? Like, in your sleep or when you’re distracted? A specific person, it never ever wraps around anybody else.”

Marion’s movement halted. She cleared her throat and, after a moment, resumed brushing. “Once. When I was young.”

Jester hesitated, waiting for her mother to continue. When she didn’t, Jester spoke quietly. “Was it… Was it Babenon Dosal?”

“It was. And my mother’s and father’s tails always wrapped around one another’s. That’s what they do, they… gravitate to our chosen partners. Has yours been… gravitating?” Jester could tell that her mother was being careful with her wording.

“What does it mean? If it has?”

Marion finally released Jester’s hair and sat the brush on the vanity but she didn’t move away. “It does not have to mean anything. If you do not wish to act on it, it will eventually go away and then someday you will gravitate to someone new.”

“It means I love her. Doesn’t it?”

“Perhaps.”

Jester licked her lips and nodded. “I do though. I do love her.”

Marion gently rubbed her daughter’s shoulders. “It’s kinda cool, isn’t it?”

Jester giggled nervously, blinking away the wet gathering into the corners of her eyes. “Kinda scary.”

“That too. So… is it the tall, scary one or the short, punchy one?”

“Momma!”

A few nights later, Jester was woken again when Beau shifted next to her.

“My watch already?” she asked, her voice barely above a whisper. “I feel like I haven’t slept at all, man.”

“You chose second watch, shall I wake someone else?” Caduceus asked from somewhere out of Jester’s view.

Jester groaned, her tail tightening around Beau’s thigh as she snuggled contently into Beau’s side. “Noooo,” she groaned tiredly. “Don’t leave.”

Beau was quiet for a moment, then she snickered. “You heard the lady, Cad. ‘Sides, there’s no way I’m getting out of that tail’s death grip without her say so.”

Caduceus sighed. “I will wake Veth then.”

Beau chuckled and slipped her arm under Jester’s head for her to rest on. “Thanks, Jessie.”

Jester hummed. “Sorry about my tail. It just does that.” She was too tired to feel embarrassed about it but in the back of her mind she filed it away to freak about later.

Beau pressed her mouth against Jester’s hair, shifting closer. “I don’t mind. Your tail wants me close, I take it as a compliment.”

“You know,” Jester started, then she sighed tiredly. “My tail doesn’t really even have a mind of its own.”

Beau smiled against her head. “Yeah, I know.”


End file.
